The Government today signed an agreement with the Alibaba Group to further develop Macao as a smart city, namely by using Alibaba’s big data processing capabilities to enhance the quality of the city’s public services.
Witnessed by the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, and the Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group, Mr Ma Yun, the “Framework Agreement of Strategic Cooperation on Smart City Development” was signed by the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms O Lam, and the President of Alibaba Cloud, Mr Hu Xiaoming.
The cooperation project includes two phases, Ms O said during a press briefing held after the signing ceremony held at the Government Headquarters.
The first phase, running until June 2019, would comprise the construction of a cloud computing data centre in Macao, as well as the data mapping stage of information managed by the Government. During the first phase, the parties would gradually launch projects using a range of big data services in order to accelerate Macao’s development in a number of areas, namely: tourism; training of information technology professionals; transportation management; medical services; and urban management.
Ms O said the Government expected the first batch of projects to produce preliminary results by mid-2018.
The second phase of the framework agreement covers the period from July 2019 to June 2021. Beside from the ongoing optimisation of information technology infrastructure across Macao, the parties would also start projects related to environmental protection, custom clearance procedures, and forecasting models for Macao’s economy.
Other cooperation areas featured in the agreement include: development of an integrated system for public services; enhancement of tourism services by applying information technologies to turn Macao into a smart tourism city; building a smart transportation network; and launching certificate programmes to train more professionals in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and Alibaba Cloud information technology.
The Government attached great importance to the development of information technology, striving to develop Macao as a smart city. In this regard, the Government has outlined clear policy objectives for this area in the city’s first Five-Year Development Plan, as well as in the Policy Addresses for the last two years, said Ms O.
Building Macao as a smart city was a Government strategy to boost socio-economic development and social well-being in Macao, she said. The Government has made continued efforts to realise this vision via a number of short-, mid- and long-term policies, namely by pressing ahead with the construction of infrastructure to support smart-city innovation and expediting the development of e-Government initiatives.
The Government decided to cooperate with Alibaba Cloud after conducting a comprehensive research and assessing the experience in this area of other developed cities. Alibaba Cloud – a unit of Alibaba Group – is the largest provider of cloud computing services in China and a leading company in this field, with clients in more than 200 countries and cities worldwide.
In addition, Alibaba Cloud is widely recognised in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of information security. The company’s cloud platform is highly compatible with different systems, meaning that the Government would not need to change its existing systems.
Services provided by Alibaba Cloud were expected to fully satisfy the development needs of Macao as a smart city, said Ms O, adding that cooperating with Alibaba would help the city to achieve its long-term development goals.
Alibaba Cloud’s Mr Hu said he was confident that, by using the company’s experience and technology, Macao would implement successfully its information technology projects, serving as a reference in smart city development in the Asia-Pacific region.
Officials and representatives attending today’s press conference included: the Director of Greater China of Alibaba Cloud, Mr Liu Binxing; the Government Spokesperson, Mr Chan Chi Ping; the President of the Administrative Committee of the Science and Technology Development Fund, Mr Ma Chi Ngai; and the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau, Mr Liu Dexue.